For many people around the world, this is the holiday season. We're packing things up and hitting the road to visit family and friends. Most of us will put at least some part of our trip into Google's hands as we launch Maps and wait for it to tell us which turn to take next. A new version hit the beta channel yesterday to prepare for some of these road trips. There are a few new features and a boatload of items for a teardown.

Note: An unfortunate event resulted in the v9.67 update being skipped, so this post includes details for that version and v9.68.

Now indoor maps are getting a prominent and more accessible place where people will see them. Open the detail page for any place with an indoor map and scroll down to the area between the Q&A and the Popular Times. You'll now see the indoor map clearly displayed in that spot. Tapping on it will return you to the main map view with the indoor map centered on the screen.

Picture-in-Picture mode gets a helpful hint

Outside of video apps, there haven't been very many implementations of Picture-in-Picture mode, but Google Maps launched support pretty quickly with a useful mini-navigation window. The latest update adds a little bit of polish with a short hint that lets you know the window can be dismissed by dragging it to the bottom of the screen.

The hint only lasts for a few seconds, then fades away to show the standard navigation map, next turn, and the expected arrival time.

Directions using regular routes

As part of the launch of commuting, Maps has been working harder to understand which roads we travel to get to and from the places we go most often. Now that information might be useful for more than just commutes.

After the release of the v9.67, Google began rolling out a new option that lets users decide if Maps should give preference to regular routes when suggesting directions. This can be useful if you are more familiar or simply prefer one route over another, even if it might not be quite as short or as fast.

The regular routes option is enabled by default, but you can find it at Settings -> Personal content if you want to shut it off. Since this was activated remotely, it's possible not all users have the option yet, and it may not be available in all countries.

Teardown

Disclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information. It's possible that the guesses made here are totally and completely wrong. Even when predictions are correct, there is always a chance that plans could change or may be canceled entirely. Much like rumors, nothing is certain until it's officially announced and released.

The features discussed below are probably not live yet, or may only be live for a small percentage of users. Unless stated otherwise, don't expect to see these features if you install the apk.

Out of range warnings

No car can run forever, they've all got to stop and refuel at some point. That's doubly true for electric cars, which have to find special charging stations when they're on the road. Google Maps is already great for searching along your route and adding stops, but if you can't make it all the way to your destination in one go, it's important to know that up front. The Maps team is working on a new feature that can let you know if your car may not be able to make the journey and offer to find a place to recharge along the way.

<string name="CAR_EV_MAY_BE_OUT_OF_RANGE_TTS">You may not have enough charge to reach your next destination, please find a charging station along your route.</string>
<string name="CAR_EV_OUT_OF_RANGE_TTS">You don\'t have enough charge to reach your next destination, please find a charging station along your route.</string>

<string name="CAR_MAY_BE_OUT_OF_RANGE">Your destination may be out of range.</string>
<string name="CAR_OUT_OF_RANGE">Your destination is out of range.</string>

Just to be clear, it's possible this feature will also work for those of us still using fossil fuels, but the text and how it's used currently lead me to think that this is intended for electric vehicles.

Edit (December 10th): New information confirms this feature is meant to work with both electric cars fuel-based cars.

The text is split into some lines that clearly state that you can't make it to your destination and others that hedge on the possibility. No doubt this is to account for different driving habits, traffic, lots of steep roads, and other unforeseen conditions that might impact your efficiency. Regardless, you're probably taking a big risk by ignoring either warning.

There's one obvious question to consider with a feature like this: How does Google Maps know how far you can go? I haven't seen any specific clues in the APK to answer that, but it's likely this requires data directly from a car, and that means there would have to be direct integration of some type. Alternatively, this could be using some clever behavior tracking and analysis algorithms, and we've all seen what Google can do with those. However it's done, this is definitely a cool, and very smart feature for drivers.

Public transit guidance through notifications

If you're weaving through subway terminals and stepping off of one train just to get on another, you might not want to have Google Maps open every step of the way. Not only will it reveal your status as a tourist, it might flag you as an easy target for thieves. If you're playing it safe, you might want to keep your phone out and simply watch as new instructions pop up as notifications.

Disclaimer: I live really far from the nearest mass transit, and I haven't tried any of this in a very long time, so I'm not sure quite how much is already operational.

Judging by a huge batch of new strings, Google Maps will be adding some new functionality to make it easier to navigate through transit stations and get on the right busses and trains, and it will all be visible through notifications. None of the instructions look particularly new, they are simply customized to fit notifications a little more comfortably so you'll have fewer instructions that wrap to a new line or cutting off before the end.

With some basic comparisons with the existing instructions for navigating public transit, it looks like this may be slightly improved and the instructions are a little more precise. However, since I have no way to test or see quite what this looks like, I'll leave it to readers to fill in some of the blanks down in the comments.

Update optimizations for offline maps

Offline maps are great for those with unreliable, slow, or expensive data service. However, keeping a huge collection of maps stored on your phone is a waste if you're not using them. A new message indicates that Maps may begin backing off on the regular updates to unused maps.

<string name="OFFLINE_MAPS_SETTINGS_AUTOMATICALLY_UPDATE_SUMMARY">To save you space and data, only recently used maps will be updated</string>

The message is a bit unclear by saying that only recently used maps will be updated, but it doesn't explain what "use" is or what will happen to unused maps. Does it expect the Maps app to actually be used in a given period, or is it sufficient if you simply enter the areas covered by your offline maps? And if a map is considered unused by this rule, will it be expired and removed from the device or will it be allowed to remain there and get updates once it's used again?

So far, this message doesn't seem to appear anywhere that I've checked or with any settings I've changed, but I don't have any unused offline maps laying around, so it might not have shown up for me anyway. If you normally keep a few offline maps of rarely traveled regions, keep an eye out for possible changes to the offline behavior, just in case it does the wrong thing and leaves you lost.

Friendly GPS messages

If you're dealing with a spotty GPS signal, it looks like Maps may begin showing a couple of friendlier and helpful messages. Reconnections will be met with "There you are!" while dropped connections will tell you that the signal was "Lost just now" or include a timeframe if the signal doesn't come back immediately.

Proper names for administrative divisions

If the title of this section has you snoring already, I don't blame you. In short, if you've seen a term like 'postal code' where another word is technically correct, that's probably about to be fixed, or may already be fixed in some screens. A set of accurate terms has been added that should cover many of the variations around the world, including: Oblast, Post Town, Postal Code, Prefecture, Province, and ZIP Code.

Ring in 2018 with location sharing

A promotional reminder will be coming up in a few weeks as the world prepares for some New Year's Eve parties. If you'll be at a large event and want to help others find you amidst the crowd, Google wants you to know that you can share your location by tapping on the blue dot in Maps. But I'm sure you all knew that already, so this one is mostly for your friends and family that don't read Android Police.

Fare breakdown

If you call for an Uber on NYE, you're probably not going to be surprised when the bill costs more than it did on a random thursday night during the slow hours. It looks like Maps may be showing a more detailed breakdown of fares.

Follow-up: Start screen shortcuts

A teardown back in August turned up some text related to setting up shortcuts, or at least that seems to have been the intent. Recent updates have added even more text, suggesting that users will be able to customize quite a bit about their experience in Maps. The new lines indicate that the vast majority of different screens in the app will be supported, including everything from your photos and reviews to opening a list of your starred places.

If any one of these features is something you open frequently, this should give you the freedom to put it front and center. It's still not really clear if this is meant to create old school shortcuts for your launcher, fill in some of the unused slots made available through App Shortcuts (Android 7.1 and above), or if these are just set to be buttons visible in the Maps app once it's open. Nothing appears to be live yet, so we'll keep watching for this one since it's likely to be a pretty useful feature once it's up and running.

Wait for Wi-Fi

Maps may be giving contributors an opportunity to rethink photo and video uploads before they burn through their cellular plans. New text shows that posts containing pictures and video can be put on hold until the device reaches a usable Wi-Fi connection. This looks like a prompt, so you should be able to bypass it and continue uploading through mobile data if you choose to.

strings

<string name="WAIT_FOR_WIFI_SWITCH_TITLE">Wait for Wi-Fi before uploading</string>
<string name="WAIT_FOR_WIFI_SWITCH_INFO_TOOLTIP_MESSAGE">Save mobile data by turning this on before posting</string>
<string name="WAIT_FOR_WIFI_SWITCH_INFO_TOOLTIP_ACCESSIBILITY_MESSAGE">Wait for Wi-Fi before uploading. Activate to know more.</string>

<string name="WAIT_FOR_WIFI_SWITCH_ON_DIALOG_TITLE">You\'ll post only on Wi-Fi</string>
<string name="WAIT_FOR_WIFI_SWITCH_ON_DIALOG_MESSAGE">After you post photos and videos using the button at the top, they\'ll be uploaded as soon as you\'re connected to Wi-Fi</string>

Reviews are getting counters for views and likes

Let's be honest, if you've submitted photos to Maps, you probably enjoy the occasional reminder that your contributions are getting views. The same incentive appears to be coming soon to your reviews. New text shows that review cards will contain counters for the number of likes and views each has received.

Fullscreen and compact review editor

While we're on the subject of reviews, there is one last addition to mention quickly. A new line explains that a button will switch the review editor into fullscreen mode. However, since the review editor is already fullscreen, this must mean there's a new editor coming that will begin as a floating dialog, or maybe inline with the detail page for a business.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

I feel it probably does apply to EV and fossil fuel vehicles. It clearly has EV in the string name for some but not others - but both suggest that you you may not be able to make the trip in one go - the EV one specifically refers to not having enough charge, whereas the other one makes no mention of charge or electric - this will therefore most likely be for fossil fuel powered vehicles. Now as to how it will work - is it possible that it's for Android Auto powered vehicles rather than that it requires you to add hardware to a car? I'd imagine Google may also be clever enough to guess what range your vehicle can usually manage by simply having historical data on how many miles you have previously travelled between visits to a petrol station?

My original thinking was that it went for both fuel and electric cars, but I kept going back to the point that the lines mentioning electric are for TTS (text to speech), while the others are regular bits for UI. TTS lines are always a bit wordier and they usually have longer names. Also, the only new icon is for the charging station, though there's obviously already a regular fuel station icon, so that's not very telling. Either way, I'm hedging until there's something concrete. It's a super cool feature however it works.

Oh yeah, and I originally wrote comments about Android Auto and a couple of other angles, but they weren't fitting in very well and the whole post was already closing in on 3000 words, so I cut that paragraph.

I suppose it's also possible that there is more to do before it's ready. Car integration certainly makes more sense - because another problem Google would have to cope with (which means they can't simply ask you how much range you get out of a full tank) - is some people have more than one car.... If anyone can pull this off though - it's obviously going to be Google, and it seems like the sort of direction they are heading in....

Syukri Lajin

I hope Google will consider supporting OBD2 protocols. I can think of a lot of benefits with knowing the car's info while using navigation apps.

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mrjayviper

Would be appreciated if you include the word beta on articles like these. Thanks

Schorschi

The EV-range predictions sound cool, but I don't see how these can be accurate without additional hardware, like a CAN-bus reader.

I'm using one in my Spark EV and can read out the car's SOC% (=state of charge) in real time in the Torque app. Without at least that reading it's impossible to make range predictions, as there is more than driving style and speed that influence range. The energy needed to keep the battery temperature in check is the other big factor, taken care of by the car's active battery management system.